Charles Smith Accused of Grand Theft

Published April 30th, 2012

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"Crazy." That's how one of Charles Smith's co-workers described what was happening in the evidence room. In the report, Tony Raulerson describes how Smith had money problems and how Smith and his friends would have "get-togethers" in the evidence room which would "last all day." 205 other pieces of evidence also disappeared. Defense attorney Robert Rush has a stake in Smith's trial because the case against a client he defended earlier this year could have been compromised. "We had a real question about the integrity of the evidence and how it was stored because the initial police report had a weight iof certain drugs and later on it changed." That case was dismissed. It is important to remember, that in this trial, Smith is only being charged with grand theft, a felony. As the jury process went on today more women than men were questioned for selection.. Evidence in this case goes through the so-called chain of custody, which is documentation and control of evidence. This is where the report found so much trouble. Robert Rush says maintaining the correct chain of custody is vital to trials. "You know the worst thing that can happen when you have situations like this is that you either have a guilty person going free or an innocent person being convicted of something they did not do." Opening statements for the trial will begin on Wednesday.